who can forget superstorm sandy? neighborhoods along the northeast swept away, millions without power and damages as high as 50- billion dollars, raising lots of questions about u-s infrastructure and whether we should be spending some money to fix it. number five-- china. is china slowing or is china leading the world? we do know that china will be the biggest economy in the world by 20-20, for sure by 20-30. china also getting more than a few mentions during the presidential campaign, probably because it's pretty clear it's both a competitor and a partner. number four-- europe. the european union was fractured by too much debt and the austerity plans to fix it. that saga is far from over. number three-- the housing market finally, finally bottomed out. the combination of low home prices and continued record low mortgage rates set off a building and buying spree. investors began buying entire neighborhoods. but first-time buyers were also able to get a home of their own for the first time in years, as long as they h